Mukilteo honors Pioneer of the Year

Published 10:07 pm Sunday, July 27, 2008

MUKILTEO — Mas Odoi, a Japanese-American who was born in Mukilteo in 1921, has been named the Pioneer of the Year by the Mukilteo Historical Society.

Odoi, now 87 and living in Everett, is to be honored at the historical society’s meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 14 at the Rosehill Community Center, 304 Lincoln Ave.

“Because there are not that many Mukilteo residents left that lived here before World War II, they selected me as their pioneer of the year,” Odoi said.

During the upcoming meeting, Odoi is planning to share stories of his childhood and discuss the area’s history.

Born in 1921, Odoi was raised in Japanese Gulch in a village commonly referred to as Japan Town.

His family moved away during the Great Depression, when the sawmill where Odoi’s father worked closed down.

In 1941, Odoi was majoring in business at University of Washington when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. A year later, Odoi and his twin brother, Hiro, were moved with their parents to a Japanese internment camp in the southern Idaho town of Minidoka.

Mas Odoi later joined the U.S. Army and was wounded during combat in Europe. After the war, he settled in Chicago, married and found work as a TV repairman.

The University of Washington recently awarded honorary degrees to Japanese-American students who were forced to abandon their studies during World War II. Odoi was one.

He returned to the Puget Sound region about a dozen years ago.

“I was kind of reluctant to accept the (historical society’s) honor, because I’ve been gone for quite a few years,” Odoi said.